On Sunday night, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-108 at home. With an incredible performance, Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 35 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. Luka Doncic added 34 points as well. For the Wolves, Anthony Edwards scored 36 in the loss.

Both teams needed to play patient offense to get the game started; extended plays with numerous passes and difficult shot selections led to a close first half. Specifically, Kyrie Irving put on another impressive offensive display, making two difficult shots inside the arc and a fantastic three-pointer. The Mavericks took a number of leads against the Wolves, but Minnesota quickly caught up and retook the lead. Rudy Gobert caused the Wolves additional possessions by snatching offensive rebounds early on, which was problematic. In the first quarter, the Mavericks had a 30-29 lead.

The Timberwolves’ early foul trouble made the game somewhat of an offensive grind. After a few creative offensive moves and free throws, Dallas led by eight points. A Mike Conley three-pointer trimmed the lead to one after Karl Anthony-towns spearheaded an offensive rally from Minnesota. Throughout the remainder of the half, the teams traded baskets, but the Mavericks would not relinquish their lead. Dallas maintained a 60-56 advantage at the half thanks to a late lay-in by Grant Williams.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Minnesota’s size and tenacity finally paid off as Dallas gave up the lead on a 50-50 loose ball that found its way into Anthony Edwards’ hands. Not too long later, Gobert picked up his fourth foul, which would be something to keep an eye on for the rest of the game. However, the Mavericks struggled to take advantage of the different mistakes made by the Wolves. Dallas was ahead by four to six points, but they were unable to build on their lead. But the Mavericks eventually had some cushion thanks to a late Tim Hardaway three-pointer and a Luka Doncic lay-up. 91–82 was the Mavericks’ lead going into the last quarter.

The Mavericks found it difficult to generate offense despite the lead, as the Wolves gradually reduced the Dallas advantage. After Towns and Edwards made three-pointers at the six-minute mark, Dallas missed numerous opportunities to cut the advantage to two. Before Dallas ultimately broke the tie with a Dwight Powell and-one off a Doncic laser pass, the Wolves kept up their scoring, stretching the lead to 11-0 and a 106-100 lead. After numerous play stops due to “use them or lose them” timeouts for both coaches, Kyrie knotted the game at 106 all with a huge three. With little over two minutes remaining, a second three-pointer from Kyrie Irving gave the Mavericks the lead again. With 24 seconds remaining, Derrick Jones used a driving slam off a Luka double-team to help secure the victory. Dallas defeated the Timberwolves 115-108 to earn their largest victory of the season following a free throw shooting competition.

Here are a few more things…

You deal for Kyrie Irving because of this.

Seeing Kyrie Irving play every night is an amazing experience. It’s amazing that a player with his physical makeup is still playing in his 13th season, let alone being able to perform well. It’s unrealistic to expect Irving to play like an otherworldly talent every game, but when he does, as he did tonight against the Timberwolves, it’s a religious experience for basketball fans. Irving would not be stopped offensively despite the excellent defense of the Timberwolves. But more than that was his defensive input. It’s ridiculous that he has five stocks (steals plus blocks), and that doesn’t include his eight rebounds.

Irving gave the best effort he could in a game where Dallas wanted him to be the guy.

Just FIVE points were let up by the Dallas Mavericks in the last five minutes of regulation.

Dallas had led the Mavericks by nine points at the end of the third quarter, but let up 19 points in the first half of the fourth quarter, including the takeover of the lead. However, the final five minutes of regulation were something to behold for the Mavericks defensively. Towns scored an and-one basket to give the Wolves a four-point lead at the 4:55 mark, then Edwards connected on a jumper to extend the lead to six with 3:30 remaining. They would not score a meaningful basket again in the game. Dallas controlled the glass as the Wolves attempted repeated kill shots from beyond the arc. It was an impressive performance for a size-deficient team that had been eaten up on the glass to that point in the game.

Attacking the rim was the offensive key to the game

Getting Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards, and Karl Anthony-Towns into foul trouble at one point or another was key to the Dallas Maverick game plan. It threw off the Wolves rotations just-so and they could not execute on offense without Edwards. Defensively, it resulted in some Dallas rim runs that might not have happened against the heralded Minnesota defense. This was a brilliantly executed game plan and it allowed the Mavericks to survive some odd shooting performances from role players.